Ludhiana: Fire breaks out at Focal Point chemical factory

LUDHIANA: A major fire broke out at a chemical factory in Focal Point phase 5 on Tuesday evening that brought entire fire brigade unit to its knees. The fire had started from a tanker filled with chemicals that engulfed the chemical unit and a drum full of chemical flew towards another unit located nearby.
The fire took place at Parkash Chemicals in Durga Colony Focal Point at around 4.50pm. A tanker full of chemicals was coming out of the factory when a sudden spark from a nearby electricity pole switched on fire and flames started coming out of the tanker. The fire spread to the entire unit that forced the labourers move out of the factory to save their lives. Even the driver of tanker also ran away. The drums full of chemicals started flying in air with large number of blasts.

One drum fell inside office of Dashmesh Bag factory and office of the owner and the waste material kept there burnt completely. The fire also caught up in an adjoining cardboard factory full of thinner drums.
One of the workers in Dashmesh Bag factory, Fauza Ram Singh, said some cash was kept in the office for payment that was burnt completely and office was also gutted in fire.
Fireman Vicky Kalyan said that they were informed about this fire incident at around 4.50pm and fire tenders from all fire stations were pressed into action. He said they were not informed about the type of chemical and they brought out some of the drums from the unit.
Meanwhile, station fire officer SN Sharma said they were helpless in controlling the situation, because the more they were spilling water on flames the more blasts were occurring. They were trying to control the spread of fire to other adjoining units, he added.
Earlier, the cops cordoned off the area completely. There were a few shanties at the backside of the factory which were evacuated on precautionary grounds. The fire officials claimed even they were not aware as to when they will be able to control the situation.